Innovative North Dakota engineering Professor Dan Ewert has been named director of a new national model for engineering education that lets students work closely with practicing engineers from Iron Range industries while they study for their bachelors degrees.
Ewert will direct the Arrowhead University Consortium Iron Range Engineering program that allows students with two-year engineering degrees from the Northeast Minnesota Higher Education District to obtain four-year mechanical engineering degrees from Minnesota State Mankato, through completion of an innovative course of study – combining classroom instruction with hands-on study.
Ewert currently is chair of North Dakota State University’s Department of Electrical & Computing Engineering. His appointment was announced today by the presidents of the partner institutions, Richard Davenport of Minnesota State Mankato and Sue Collins of the Northeast Minnesota Higher Education District.
“This new approach is a national model for engineering schools, and I’m pleased that Minnesota State Mankato is playing a significant role in bringing four-year engineering education to the Iron Range,” said Minnesota State Mankato President Davenport. “Dan Ewert is an outstanding choice to guide the program’s development. Dr. Ewert has devoted his career to hands-on, cross-disciplinary teaching methods that produce engineers who make a difference in business and industry.”
“Dan Ewert is the epitome of an entrepreneur and that characteristic was exactly what I was looking for to co-lead a transformational engineering program,” said Northeast Minnesota Higher Education District President Collins. “He will be an inspiration to our students.”
Ewert will report to John Knox, dean of Minnesota State Mankato’s College of Science, Engineering & Technology.
As Iron Range Engineering director, he will develop curriculum and assessment procedures; implement and teach the curriculum; manage the budget; strategize the program’s future; develop and maintain relationships with industry partners; and solicit external funding.
Ewert currently administers a department with an annual budget of $3 million. He has won several awards for innovative business planning and professional excellence in teaching.
A biomedical engineering specialist, Ewert developed and teaches an advanced cardiovascular engineering class where students work as a team on real-life projects. He created a business incubator that encouraged students and faculty members to develop ideas for new companies, and arranged for students to assist with NASA parabolic flight experiments at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. He also taught a literature course at Teikyo University Holland in Maastricht, Netherlands, to show students the importance of technical and non-technical communication.
He also has consulted for several major biomedical engineering companies.
Ewert earned bachelors and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering and a doctorate in physiology from the University of North Dakota. He has done post-doctoral study in biophysics at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine.
The Iron Range Engineering program started this fall. It is part of the Arrowhead University Consortium based at Mesabi Range Community & Technical College in Virginia, Minn., and directed by Trent Janezich.
The one-of-a-kind experiential education program places students in Iron Range manufacturing plants three days each week to work on projects directed by practicing engineers. For two days each week the students learn engineering theory and discuss its application in a classroom at Mesabi Range Community & Technical College, Virginia.
The program’s goal is to produce high quality, work-ready engineers who have experience with practical application of engineering theory.
The program is funded with a $1.1-million grant from the Iron Range Resources Board. Seed money ($50,000) was provided by the Minnesota Center for Engineering & Manufacturing Excellence, part of Minnesota State Mankato’s College of Science, Engineering & Technology.
More information about the program and a Web log of students’ daily activities may be found at the Arrowhead University Consortium Web site, http://www.arrowheadu.com.
The Northeast Higher Education District governs five autonomous northeastern Minnesota two-year colleges. Minnesota State Mankato is a comprehensive, doctoral university with 14,950 students and two satellite sites. Both institutions are part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.
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